Point of View

The point of view, or rather points of view, that Beckett provides, are always conflicted — and, indeed, very deliberately so, as it is through point of view that Beckett is able to shape his themes of metafiction and the role of the reader, as well as the role of memory and the question of the audience. Particularly in "Company" and "Worstward Ho," there is a deliberate conflation of the reader, the writer, and the subject. The man in "Company" is the subject, but the man creates a narrative for himself - making him the writer - and then a listener for that narrative - making an audience, or a reader. The reader, at the same time, is creating the man through his or her imagination. Thus, the point of view is very confused, and always nebulous. This subject-ivity is highlighted by the disappearance of characters...